Thread by @JavierAng_

@AnataNFT is a limited 2,000 NFT project that’s making headway to take Virtual Identity in the Web 3 world to the next level.

A thread on how I'm approaching this project.

Disclaimer! I'm just sharing my thoughts and in no way shilling/fudding.

All love to the founders ♥

WHY I'M EXCITED

There are plenty of long threads out there explaining their bullish views so I shall give you my short take:

@AnataNFT is the newest and its innovation is 1st of its kind in the Virtual Identity vertical of the NFT world.

We've seen Virtual Identity take the form of:

• PFPs (Punks, BAYCs, Clones, Azukis)
• Playable Characters (SandBox, Decentraland, ChillChatme)
• A bit of a stretch here.. ENS domains / Yats

@AnataNFT is the first NFT project dedicated to Virtual Avatars that you can use for Video Calls and Streaming.

There are also plans to create PFP and/or Playable Characters version of your Anata - basically allowing you to live as your character in Web 3

The project tackles another major problem as well - big influencers/founders can now engage their community WITHOUT doxing themselves.

I'm sure we can all agree that community calls/streams with video > voice only

There's also a voice modulator function for ultimate privacy.

I expect @AnataNFT to kick start this trend of Virtual Avatars in NFT world - existing PFP projects to offer V.A in their future roadmap and birth of many new copy-cat projects

If you can envision this happening then Anata being the 1st of its kind deserves your attention.

BUT... some concerns and room for improvements are:

1. Community & Hype seems to be lacking, despite them having all they need to succeed - innovative idea, influencer founders & big influencers shilling

There's very little activity in their 6.6k member Discord group 😥

Possible reasons:

• Virtual Avatar use-case isn’t attractive to people with no plans to hop on public video-calls

• No other use-case upon mint - can't even use as PFP (unless you screenshot)

Possibly better results if V.A came with PFP too upon mint.

2. Non-NFT Owners can still use Virtual Avatar as long as they have the files

There are 2 ways to use the Virtual Avatars:

The Traditional method does not verify if the user owns the NFT (except for initial file download) whereas the Hologram method does.

Similar to a "right-click-save jpg" but more severe IMO - for a project whose ethos is Virtual Identity, not coming up with a method to safeguard against identity theft is lacklustre.

I guess RTFKT's CloneX might face similar issues in the future.

The above problem is exacerbated by this next concern

3. No Displayable Proof Of Ownership or any indication that the Avatar is an Anata

Right now it's difficult to tell if someone is the true owner or even using an Anata.

Given that most people (or is it just me lol) won't be able to identify different art styles unless they're distinct enough, Anata avatars become indistinguishable from others online (see attached)

There needs to be a unique identifier for Anata beyond the art style.

An NFT project without a vibrant community is soulless.

Coupled with the lack of identity theft prevention & proof-of-ownership -

Minting feels more like purchasing an avatar off-the-shelf from a studio/creator (except it's randomised)

Some possible suggestions:

• Only allow the Hologram method
• Include some sort of optional verified watermark e.g "VERIFIED OWNER OF ANATA #XXX"

HOW I'M APPROACHING THE AUCTION

The framework I'm using to gauge the price is to think of it as

Buying a Virtual Avatar + Additional Perks

So I searched on freelance marketplaces like [Redacted] for Vtube Avatars and found a few vendors with similar art & good rating

The resultant minimum price I'd bid for is 0.215 ETH - the average of the lowest & highest price range I found

Out of respect for Anata's team, I will not be sharing the marketplace / vendor.

There are additional perks to consider such as:

• Hologram Browser Add-on (w/ inbuilt voice-modulator)
• Access to community
• Access to future roadmap
• The Anatacademy (learn about streaming etc)

Including the above, the maximum bid I'll consider is 0.4 ETH

That's how I'm approaching the auction. Maybe I'm too conservative / stingy or just poor... 😥

There's not really a good way to compare to other projects since this is the 1st of its kind.

SO WHAT NOW?

The new auction date has not been announced since the postponement of the initial one on 24th March.

They delayed it because they wanted to rework some models so that the characters would look more diverse. More info here:

https://twitter.com/AnataNFT/status/1506709543379775488

Huge respect to the team for making this decision - essentially they'd have to make adjustments to 1,000 avatars in order to deliver the best possible product.

I'll be waiting for the auction date announcement~

TO SUM IT UP

Anata is an exciting project that is sure to kick-off a new trend in the NFT world.

It is unprecedented and so far the team has done a phenomenal job with the previews. The postponement of the auction speaks volumes to their standards of requirement for perfection

If they can stick more closely to the ethos of Virtual Identity (which I think they easily can) then there's really nothing much to doubt the project for - except for the current lack of community engagement in Discord

In all, I'd still be minting one as I love the idea and team

I hope this thread has helped you understand more about Anata and clues on how to approach the auction.

Feel free to let me know if you disagree and offer another view.

Once again all love to the Anata team and these are just my personal thoughts.